Chinese investors look to Hunter wine industry

A Hunter real estate agent says he is fielding an increasing number of enquiries from Chinese buyers looking to invest in the region's wine industry.

Cain Beckett says he is receiving at least two phone calls a day from potential Chinese investors, some of them Australian firms with established wine businesses in China.

He says the companies are looking to produce wine that could be directly exported to markets in China.

Mr Beckett says he negotiated a new deal on one Hunter winery just yesterday.

"We've had a quite generous offer made on a property that's been accepted," he said.

"They are an established wine business in China and they've also got other established businesses in Australia.

"Hopefully we get signed contracts. It's promising and there's no indication otherwise that it's not a solid transaction."

Mr Beckett says while he has fielded a lot of enquires from potential Chinese investors over the past year, in recent weeks the pace has significantly picked up.

"The inquiry level is now probably a couple of calls a day from different investors based in China," he said.

"Some of them are Australian companies who have established wine businesses.

"Others are otherwise unrelated in terms of the wine industry being a new game for them but they realise they've got channels in China that they can distribute the product through so it's a vertical integration I guess."